Rotor blades of wind energy power plants are made of composite materials, typically glass-fiber composites. The materials can be damaged by rain, sand, ice, and hailstones, a process which is commonly referred to as “erosion”. Protective tapes can be applied to the rotor blades to protect them from erosion. Typically, the tapes are wrapped around the leading edge of the rotor blade and adhered to the blade by an adhesive. Commercial tapes are usually planar and comprise a polymer film as protective layer and an adhesive layer for attachment to the rotor blade. Typical tapes are up to 400 μm thick of which the adhesive layer typically has a thickness of less than 100 μm to avoid making an impact on the aerodynamic profile of the blade. The tapes may be prepared by extruding the protective resin through a rectangular die of the required dimension to define thickness and width of the tape and coating the adhesive onto the extruded film. The adhesive layer is typically covered on its external surface by a release liner and the tapes are wound up into rolls for storage and handling.
Rotor blade manufacturers apply the protective tapes after removal of the release liner to the rotor blade. After application of the tape the rotor blades are transported to the wind farms where they are installed. The tapes may also be applied to the blades after they had been installed in the wind farm.
Rotor blades for wind turbine generators are becoming increasingly longer and typically may now have a span of greater than 40 m, e.g. 60 m. Furthermore, wind turbine generators are increasingly set up off-shore subjecting the protective tape to greater forces and harsher erosion conditions. This means that protective tapes have to face stronger forces, for example during transportation to the off-shore power plant and/or to harsher erosion conditions.
Therefore, there is a need to provide alternative protective tapes that may appropriately meet the above described challenges.